A judge has cleared NRL player Zane Musgrove and former reserve grade player Liam Coleman of indecently assaulting a woman in a Sydney bar.
Wests Tigers prop Musgrove, 24, appealed a local court finding he had stuck his tongue down the throat of the then-22-year-old woman, knowing the woman wasn't consenting.
The alleged offence occurred on a crowded dancefloor at the Coogee Bay Hotel in November 2018.
Ex-Penrith reserve grader Coleman, 23, also appealed a finding by the same magistrate that he'd touched the woman's breast without her consent during the same night in question.
NSW District Court Judge David Arnott SC on Friday said he couldn't be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that either offence had occurred.
Both men had denied the allegations against them.
Coleman become emotional outside court, saying he'd been hounded by media and had his whole life on hold since being charged in November 2018.
"I couldn't do anything," he told reporters outside Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday.
His father, Souths legend halfback Craig Coleman, said: "No family should have to go through what we've gone through for the past 16 months."
"We knew from day one when Liam come home ... and said 'mum, I didn't do anything'."
Musgrove, who played two games for the Tigers before the 2020 season was postponed, was "very happy" with the decision, his lawyer told reporters.
The pair were charged after the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police Musgrove had pulled her close and repeatedly kissed her aggressively.
She said Musgrove grabbed her breast briefly and thrust his pubic region into her hip and told the local court hearing Coleman later put his hand on her breasts.
Magistrate Paul Lyon was split on the allegations, finding the footballers not guilty of aggravated indecent assault in company but returning guilty verdicts in relation to Musgrove's kiss and Coleman's alleged breast touch.
Judge Arnott did not find the woman's account unsound - even finding that Musgrove had thrust his tongue in her mouth without her consent.
But the offence also requires a finding that the offender knew or should have known the victim wasn't consenting.
Noting it was a "fine line", the judge said he couldn't be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt Musgrove failed to consider her consent or realised the possibility she was not consenting.
Musgrove had said under oath he could feel her kissing him back.
Dealing with Coleman's conviction, Judge Arnott dismissed some defence submissions but still held reasonable doubts the footballer touched the woman's breast.
That came after considering Coleman's good character and repeated denials, a nearby witness only seeing "roughness" between the pair and police evidence that the woman had said she couldn't be sure who touched her breast.
Musgrove played 27 NRL games for South Sydney before signing for Wests Tigers after the 2018 season.
He was unable to play in 2019 after the NRL refused to register his contract until after the local court matter ended in late 2019.
Australian Associated Press
